Human destiny, the afterlife and divine will

Overview

Recall questions on the purposes of human existence, Adam, the barzakh and the Day of Resurrection, divine justice and mercy, heaven and hell, Mu'tazilite free will and the Ash'arite doctrine of kasb, Ghazali on free will and omnipotence, and life as a test.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What three reasons for human existence does Muslim teaching draw from the Qur'an?

   Model answer

   First, the knowledge of God: the account of Adam's creation has God teaching him the names of things and having the angels bow before him, which Muslim commentators read as showing that human beings exist to know their Lord and to act as His stewards on earth. Second, worship: the Qur'an states that God created jinn and human beings in order that they should serve Him. Third, moral testing: life and death are described as made so that people may be tried in their conduct. Together these present human life as purposeful, dignified and accountable.

2. 2

   What does the Qur'anic account of Adam establish for Muslims?

   Model answer

   Muslims take from it that human beings were created deliberately and honoured above other creatures, that Adam was given knowledge the angels lacked, and that humanity holds a delegated stewardship over the earth. It also establishes that human beings can be tempted and can disobey, since Adam ate from the forbidden tree, and that they can repent and be forgiven, since Adam was taught words of repentance and accepted back. Muslims stress that both Adam and his wife were responsible, and that no inherited guilt passes to their descendants, which marks a clear difference from the Christian doctrine of original sin.

3. 3

   What is the Barzakh?

   Model answer

   The Barzakh is the intermediate condition between an individual's death and the general resurrection, often described as a barrier or partition. Muslim tradition holds that the dead are questioned about their Lord, their religion and their prophet, and that the grave becomes a place of ease or of distress according to the answer, giving a foretaste of what is to come. Muslims differ over how literally the details should be taken, but the doctrine expresses the conviction that death is a transition rather than an ending and that judgement is not indefinitely postponed.

4. 4

   What do Muslims believe happens on the Day of Resurrection?

   Model answer

   Muslims believe that creation will be brought to an end, that the dead will be raised bodily, and that all will be gathered before God. Each person's record of deeds is produced and deeds are weighed; nothing is overlooked, and the limbs themselves are described as testifying. Judgement is then passed, and the destinations are the garden or the fire. Muslims hold that judgement is on individual responsibility, so no one carries another's burden, and Sunni tradition also allows for the Prophet's intercession by God's permission.

5. 5

   How do divine justice and divine mercy both appear in Muslim teaching about the afterlife?

   Model answer

   Justice appears in the exactness of the reckoning: deeds are recorded and weighed, wrongs done to others are addressed, and nobody is judged for what they could not do. Mercy appears in the doctrine that God's mercy outstrips His anger, in the acceptance of repentance up to the point of death, in the multiplying of reward for good deeds beyond their strict worth, and in intercession. Many Muslim theologians hold that those with faith who enter the fire will not remain there permanently, and some, notably in the tradition following Ibn Taymiyya, have argued that the fire itself may not be everlasting, though the majority position is that it is.

6. 6

   How do Muslims describe heaven and hell, and how literally are these descriptions taken?

   Model answer

   The Qur'an pictures paradise as a garden, with flowing water, shade, pure companions and, above all, the pleasure of God, and describes the fire with burning, chains and regret. Traditionalist Muslims take the descriptions as literal though beyond present imagining. Others, including many philosophers and Sufis, read the physical imagery as pointing to spiritual realities that sensory language can only approximate, and treat nearness to God or separation from Him as the substance of both states. Most Muslims hold that the reality exceeds anything the words convey.

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